3 Rape-attempt Charges

A 32-year-old man, already charged with attempted rape, was charged Tuesday with attempting to rape two more women, 77 and 65 years old.

A $150,000 bond was set for Filiberto Juarez, 1856 S. Loomis St., after the new charges were made during a Cook County Criminal Court hearing.

Juarez was initially charged with the May 27 attempted rape of a 32-year- old store manager, who fought him off with the help of her 6-year-old daughter, police said.

Twenty days earlier, a janitor had pulled Juarez away from an elderly woman he allegedly was raping in St. Pius Church, 1919 S. Ashland Ave., according to police. The woman was praying at the church when she was attacked, police said.

Police tried to persuade the woman to press charges against Juarez, but she refused, said Detective Vic Switski of the Harrison Area police. The janitor filed a charge of public indecency, but Juarez was freed.

But after the May 27 attempted rape, a story about Juarez appeared in the Spanish language news media and another woman called police, Detective Switski said. He said the woman, who lived on West 24th Street, said she had taken Juarez in because he had recently arrived from Mexico and had nowhere to stay. The woman told police that when her 77-year-old friend came to visit on May 2, Juarez attacked her. The woman said she fought him off and he then left the home and allegedly attacked a 65-year-old woman who was collecting cans in the alley, Switski said.

Judge Francis Gembala set the bond and public defender Anthony Eben requested a psychiatric examination of Juarez. Eben said Juarez had a family in Mexico, and has been living in Chicago illegally about a month. The case was continued to June 24.